


Dress up

by kittybenzedrine



Series: Timelines [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-26 14:11:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12060606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittybenzedrine/pseuds/kittybenzedrine
Summary: They infiltrate a ball to collect one of Grief's bounties.Ren is sick of being a wallflower._____All pieces of the Timelines series are standalones and can be read without context.





	Dress up

"Lady Reneea, Lord Leo is waiting on you."

Renegade cringes at her name as the handmaid enters the room. The woman- barely more than a girl of 15- crosses to her and immediately fusses over Ren's unruly hair, doing her best to tame down the wild brown curls. Ren pulls away after a moment and sits to let the shorter girl get to her hair easier. After years and years of dealing with being upgraded to "Lady" due to her partner, she's gotten used up being manhandled into the beauty process.

"There's no way I can let you go out like this," the girl murmurs, more to herself than anything. Ren laughs.

"Would you believe me if I told you I grew up on a farm? Not only did I do household chores, but my brother would make me come out to the stables with him to shovel horse shit. And now I'm a warlord. Beauty is foreign to me." Ren tugs on the flowing silk of the forest green dress that had been commissioned for her. 

The girl squeaks out a laugh. "I can see the irony in that. May I...?" The girl runs her fingers through Ren's hair.

"Do whatever you'd like to it, just don't brush it or I'll look like a dandelion. Grief- eh, Leo- Leo can wait. I wait on him to get dressed all the time."

 

 

"Hm. Figured you'd been in maroon," Grief says, giving her a once-over.

Ren shrugs at him. "You're the one who had it commissioned. You're the one who picked the color, and besides, I think it looks fine." She brushes a few stray hairs from his face, giving him his obligatory once-over. He looks damn good, and he knows it.

She takes his arm when he offers it out to her, and they enter the loud, crowded ball room. Both cringe at the assault of noise, but carry on regardless.

"I really don't understand why we have to do this. No reason to be fancy just to collect your bounty," Ren says lowly in his ear, staying on the edge of the crowd with him. "This isn't normally how you go about it, anyways. Not crowds, and especially not me hung off your arm like a prized mistress."

"Exactly," he mutters back. "He'll have his guards attack on sight if he thinks I'm a threat, being a mercenary and all. But if I gain his favor, I can kill him and then slip out without them knowing. Trust me, I have as little desire as you to be here."

Ren sighs and releases his arm to fix the collar of his dress shirt. She glances down to where it's tucked into his trousers. "That's a nice belt buckle. I'd like to take it off of you later."

"Don't do this to me while we're in public." But he smiles, just a little, so she knows he isn't mad.

They socialize as others drift to them, making small pleasanties with stuffy people of nobility. The ladies scowl when Ren shakes their hands, their hands soft from never working, while hers are calloused from a childhood of labor and over a hundred years of handing a sword. The men shy away from him, unused to being treated so coolly, nervous that they did something to get the mercenary on their bad side.

Eventually, she grows tired of being part of the wall. Ren pushes off of the brick and stands in front of him, offering a hand. Grief raises a brow at her. 

"Neither of us enjoy it, but I'm tired of just standing here. We'll blend in better if you do this. Dance with me."

His brow goes up just a little higher. She holds her hand out a little farther. "I have no desire to dance with any of these stuffy men who'll just want in my dress if I give them the time of night. Dance with me, Leo?"

He sighs, heavily, the way he does when he begrudgingly gives in to a demand for her.

Grief takes her hand. "Fine, fine. Lady Renee, would you care to have this dance?"

Ren smiles. "I would, thank you darling."

**Author's Note:**

> [ Kind of what her hair was styled into](http://imgur.com/a/d7P7B)
> 
>  
> 
> I have [my blog](http://iwillpooponthefloor.tumblr.com) on tumblr, if you'd like to check that out.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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